WOMAD

Carlos Núñez

From Spain

Flamenco is not the only style of music in Spain. On the north-west Atlantic coast, in the region of Galicia, there is a vigorous Celtic tradition, and one of its stars is the bagpipe player Carlos Núñez. He’s played for many years with the Chieftains, Ry Cooder guested on his debut album, and he’s undoubtedly the only Spanish piper to sell out a Glasgow show and have an audience of Scots whooping for more.Núñez, now in his twenties, began playing the gaita (Galician bagpipes) at the age of eight. A mere four years later he was invited to perform as a soloist with the Lorient Symphony Orchestra from Brittany. Paddy Moloney from the Chieftains heard Núñez and told him that the tunes he played, and which he thought were Galician, were in fact Irish. Throughout the Franco years in Spain, regional cultures were not allowed to flourish, so Núñez had no idea of the connections of trade and emigration between Ireland, Spain and other Celtic communities. As he told the Times in 1998: “The Galicians are proud to call themselves Celts. One of our rhythms, the alborada, is the same as a Scottish jig.”Núñez has toured the world with the Chieftains and also plays on their albums. Moloney calls him “an absolute genius who brings the house down” and he is equally at home in front of huge crowds (he was a star of one of WOMAD’s Gran Canaria festivals) as he is at pub sessions in rural Ireland. In 1996, he released his debut album ‘Brotherhood of Stars’ which featured the Chieftains, Ry Cooder and Spanish accordionist Kepa Junkera. The album sold over 100,000 copies in Spain and was released in the UK in 1997.